Dec. 21, 1999

Box Score

Sean Lampley scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half to lead California to a 72-64 upset over No. 22 Gonzaga in the third annual Pete Newell Challenge Tuesday at the Oakland Arena.

With the win, Cal improves to 7-2 overall, while Gonzaga falls to 7-3.

The Bears, who had made a habit of falling behind early in games this season, jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the opening minutes. Sophomore guard Dennis Gates fueled the run with seven points on a layup, two free throws and a three-pointer.

The Bulldogs, though, went on a spurt of their own and closed to within five points twice, at 20-15 and 22-17. However, Cal quickly built a 13-point advantage at 30-17 with 4:47 left. Gonzaga made it 32-28 Cal with 1:22 to go before the Bears scored the next four points for a 36-28 halftime lead.

In the second half, Gonzaga came out much stronger and took its first lead at 41-40 on a three-pointer by Richie Frahm. The Bulldogs upped their lead to five points on another Frahm three for a 58-53 lead with 7:51 remaining.

A three-point play by Cal center Solomon Hughes and a pair of free throws from Lampley tied the score at 60-60. The Bears then took the lead for good on a short jumper in the lane by Brian Wethers with 3:56 left.

Cal made six of its last seven free throws down the stretch to pull out the victory.

The win was Cal's third straight in the Newell Challenge after beating BYU, 68-64, in 1997 and North Carolina, 78-71, last year.

In addition to Lampley, Gates finished with 11 points and Joe Shipp added 10. Gonzaga's Frahm paced all scorers with 24 points, all on three-pointers.

Cal-Gonzaga Postgame Quotes

Cal head coach Ben Braun:

General Comments -

We talked about the importance of not digging ourselves a hole against Gonzaga. We had to. Defensively, I thought we did a great job. I just can't say enough about our defensive effort. Shantay Legans is an excellent job against Matt Santangelo (who was 1-for-13 from the field and finished with 2 points).

On Solomon Hughes and Sean Lampley -

Solomon Hughes showed poise, and Sean Lampley was present and accounted for tonight. We needed that. I thought Lampley did a great job of finding people and showing his poise out there. Solomon was battling some tough guys, but he played them tough right back.

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few:

General Comments -

Cal did a great job of playing hard and switching defenses. But in the second half, we made way too many poor decisions down the stretch. I thought we had poor shot selection and some poor passing decisions in that stretch.

On Cal's Sean Lampley -

Lampley was a real handful for us. Those shots he hit were tough shots. Aside from (Cincinnati's) Kenyon Martin, he's about the toughest guys we've played against down there.